For the 2012 Penn State Nittany Lions to be a winning team, a lot of factors must come together, especially some luck with injuries. They are thin at almost every position for obvious reasons. If they can't keep their remaining front-line players healthy, we're in for a chain reaction of teenagers playing who aren't ready.

But as far as targeting one area of the field that can really bolster PSU's chances? I think it's all about the wide receivers.

Specifically, the fast ones. Can someone – or two someones – manage to present a viable deep threat that can commit safeties to coverage? Because, without that, I don't see how Penn State can run the ball. If the Lions can't run it, they can't run clock, let alone score.

And if the Lions can't run clock and shorten games, they have no chance to win against the bulk of the Big Ten schedule. They just don't have enough scoring options for shootouts and they need to keep their defense off the field for more than 70 plays or then we're talking about a 2004 scenario.

With Derek Moye (40 catches in 2011) graduated, its most experienced returningh wideout Justin Brown (35) transferred to Oklahoma and both Devon Smith (25) and Curtis Drake (5) removed from the team, PSU is left with one man who saw any appreciable action last year.

That man is 6-1, 187-pound south Jersey sprinter Shawney Kersey.

No one doubts the redshirt junior Kersey is fast. PSU linebackers coach Ron Vanderlinden who recruited him (Philadelphia metro is his region) remembers him at one point in high school being the fastest schoolboy in New Jersey.

What he needs to do is get separation with some consistency – which is not always a function of raw speed but route running nuance and setting up corners for the deep ball – and then make the most of his opportunities and catch the big-gainers he can get to from quarterback Matt McGloin.

If Kersey and maybe true soph Allen Robinson can perform this function, defenses will be forced into relative honesty. And then, what I think could be an underrated ground game with a stronger offensive line and a pretty good back in Bill Belton can have a level chance to succeed.

Bill O'Brien had a good day on the media room dais on Thursday. He was sharp, upbeat and funny. He even almost sold me his wideouts:

“We feel good about the wide receivers. Nobody's in that building [Holuba Hall]. Nobody sees what we see. Kersey and Robinson are 6-foot-3 [well, Robinson is], they both can run, they can jump, they've got great hands, they're good competitors, they're tough.”

Where do I sign?

But, really, they also have barely played. A reasonable argument can be made that Robinson should have been redshirted last season; he caught three balls and took most of his 93 snaps on special teams.

“These guys are gonna go out and they're gonna battle and they're gonna show up and I got a pretty good idea that they're gonna make some plays.”

My buddy Jerry Palm, the RPI/BCS computer guru, used to have a paragraph on his old site called the Character and Work Ethic Award. Which was where he mentioned teams who had horrendous games, the inference being that the only thing the coach could roll out after such a Saturday was the old chestnut about “character and work ethic” – because there was nothing positive to say about the team's actual performance.

O'Brien's pitch sounded suspiciously like such a moment but that's what coaches in his position must do. He has to talk up his question-mark guys, hope for the best and who knows? They might give it to him.

For his part, Kersey was refreshingly honest about his sudden standing as McGloin's top target. With Smith's official jettison in June and Brown's quickie divorce with PSU after the sanction announcement and second marriage with Bob Stoops last week, a lot happened very quickly:

“Yeah, it was weird at first. I'm not even gonna lie. Like, it changed in the blink of an eye. I sat down and thought about it and was like, wow, now I'm the older guy.

“It changed but now I'm already used to it. I got myself together and I'm ready to go.”

If new receivers coach Stan Hixon, a seasoned guy with NFL chops, can make Kersey and Robinson into viable threats, then suddenly everything could open up.

Look at this way: No one ever heard of an invited walk-on named Deon Butler or [outside of State College] a skinny kid named Jordan Norwood until the first few weeks of 2005. They turned out to be mainstays of a landmark season as mere freshmen.

Kersey knows what's at stake:

“We can take the lid off the secondary and make it easier for the running backs to get big runs. And Bill Belton is gonna get to the second level.”

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